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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29710131">carry on.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchbreed/pseuds/witchbreed'>witchbreed</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, and saileen ofc ofc, is this fanservice-y? yes. maybe. who knows. certainly not me, it is mostly focused on dean and cas but sam also has his moments, pretty much every major character from the last fifteen seasons appears or is mentioned.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:40:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29710131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchbreed/pseuds/witchbreed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tell me that it's okay.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel &amp; Dean Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>carry on.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>a series finale focused on vampire mimes? I don't know what you're talking about. This is how Supernatural (2005-2020) ended.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>THE BUNKER.</strong>
</p>
<p>“So... what now?” Sam asked, putting his beer down. “No Chuck. No grand destiny. No strings. What are we supposed to do?”</p>
<p>“I know what <em>I</em> am going to do”, Dean said. He reached for his shoulder, for the shadow of a touch that still lingered. “I’m going to bring Cas back.”</p>
<p>“Dean, he… he’s gone.”</p>
<p>“So? Since when has that stopped any of us?”</p>
<p>“It’s different. The Empty–”</p>
<p>“He left it before, he can do it again. If not, we – Jack can do it. If Chuck could bring Lucifer back, Jack can –”</p>
<p>“I’ve tried”, they heard someone say behind them. There was no ruffling of feather anymore – but Jack was standing there nonetheless, in his white jacket, with a smile on his face, his hand raised. “Hello.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean, ‘you’ve tried’?” Dean asked. He put his bottle away, turning towards the boy.</p>
<p>“I’ve been trying to contact him for a while now, but with no results”, Jack explained. “And for some reason, I can’t – I can’t open a door to the Empty.”</p>
<p>“But… you’re God”, Sam frowned.</p>
<p>“I know. Even this job has limitations, I guess.”</p>
<p>“So what, now? Are we just supposed to leave Cas rotting in that place forever?” Dean asked. He could feel the anger boiling inside him – that red hot furnace brimming underneath his skin, ready to explode.</p>
<p>But he controlled it. It was not who he was – not now. Not anymore.</p>
<p>“There may be another way”, Jack pondered. “Nick… when he tried to bring Lucifer back, he used a spell. I don’t know the spell, but I know it used my blood. Blood of a relative. Maybe if we have some of Cas’ blood – I guess Claire’s counts, since she is his daughter…”</p>
<p>“I have his blood”, Dean said, the words coming out of his mouth before he could register them.</p>
<p>“You do?” Sam and Jack asked, in unison.</p>
<p>“I’ll be right back.”</p>
<p>He tumbled out of the room, faster than his legs would allow him, towards his bedroom. Eileen was almost knocked out on her ass by Hurricane Dean as she came out of her room – well, Sam’s room, rather, but there was very little difference.</p>
<p>Now that there was no threat lingering and everybody was returned home, she had moved back into the bunker. She wasn’t expecting her first day back to involve getting trampled on by her brother-in-law.</p>
<p>“You okay?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Better than ever”, he said, but in such a hurry, he wasn’t even sure she had read him.</p>
<p>The jacket was being kept on his bottom drawer, folded carefully, exactly as it had been since he’d last worn it. The stench of death was still impregnated into the fabric, and as he ran his fingers over the dried blood texture, it was like being there again.</p>
<p>But this time… this time there was gonna be a different ending.</p>
<p>“Do you think this will work?” he asked, handing the jacket to Jack.</p>
<p>“I don’t know, but I’ll try”, Jack said. He pressed his fingers over the handprint, clearing his mind – through all the voices, all the prayers, all the beings he felt connected to, he reached out to one in particular. “Castiel”, he called out, to the vastness of the universe. “Castiel”, he called again, past the stars, the planets, into the void and beyond. “Father.”</p>
<p>But there was no answer.</p>
<p>“Maybe it takes time”, Eileen said, after Sam clued her in.</p>
<p>“And we just sit and wait? We don’t know if it <em>worked</em>”, Dean insisted.</p>
<p>“What about Rowena?” she suggested.</p>
<p>“I already looked through most of what Rowena left me”, Sam said. “Didn’t find anything about the Empty on them. But…” he paused, tongue between teeth. “Nick got his spell to open a rift from demons last time… and she’s the queen of Hell. Maybe she can help.”</p>
<p>“If God doesn’t know the spell, why would Rowena? One of them is supposed to be All-Knowing, and it’s not her”, Dean said, gesturing downwards.</p>
<p>“But it’s different”, Jack intervened. “Chuck’s knowledge… it’s like a library. I have all the books in here, but I haven’t read all of them yet. It will take time.”</p>
<p>“The Queen of Hades it is, then. Come on, Persephone, lead the way”, he said, gesturing to Sam, whose ears perked up.</p>
<p>“I’m – I’m not – I don’t –” Sam babbled, looking from Dean’s shit-eating grin to Eileen’s crooked eyebrow.</p>
<p>Thankfully, Jack stepped in. “I can get us there”, he said, snatching them away with a snap of his fingers.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>THE EMPTY.</strong>
</p>
<p>“<em>Father</em>.”</p>
<p>The words reached him and into him, echoing in his ears, again and again until it was all he could hear. A single word, like a beam of light, pulling him through the darkness until he emerged, breathing in a gush of air he did not need, in a place where oxygen didn’t exist.</p>
<p>Castiel was, once again, awake.</p>
<p>But things were different now. The Empty was not… well, empty. Instead of an endless black room, there were large cracks spreading through, from floor to ceiling. A loud, humming sound slipped through these cracks, and flashes of color would shine through them on occasion, blinding him for seconds. He could see on the ground thousands of bodies – asleep, neither alive nor dead, brothers and sisters he had long since parted with. Demons as well. Reapers. God’s little rejects.</p>
<p>“Oh, not you again”, said a familiar voice – his own voice, but slightly to the left. “Did we not have a deal? Weren’t you supposed to be asleep?”</p>
<p>He turned around. The Shadow was there once again, its arms folded against its chest; it had taken Cas’ shape, except not…quite. The cracks seemed to have reached it as well, and half of its face kept switching between Castiel’s and others – Gabriel’s, Michael’s, Meg’s, Ruby’s, Hannah’s, Billie’s. Either it could not decide… or it could not stop itself.</p>
<p>“What happened here?” Cas asked.</p>
<p>“What do you think? <em>Your boy</em> happened”, it said, spitefully. “He blew up, all over me. Took a while, but the place started to crack up, now look how it is! The other one – God – he promised he’d fix it up if I let him take Lucifer out, but you people don’t know how to keep your promises, do you?”</p>
<p>“<em>What</em> is happening?” he insisted. Flashes of things moved behind the tracks. Gigantic things. Things beyond even his comprehension.</p>
<p>“It’s cracking. The whole place is cracking.” It said, flailing its fingers. “Soon enough it’s gonna break apart like an egg, and all the things in the other side are gonna spill over.”</p>
<p>“What other side?”</p>
<p>“The other universes, Clarence. Keep up.”</p>
<p>“There is no – Chuck wiped them all out.”</p>
<p>“The ones he created, yes, but do you really think he was the only one? Don’t you think there was something <em>before</em> him? Maybe even other <em>versions</em> of him?” it laughed. “He was building his little castles in the sandbox, sure, but there’s a whole other playground out there, buddy boy, and you don’t want that shit to cross over here. This isn’t just breaking the fourth wall; it’s taking a hammer and tearing down the whole damn studio.”</p>
<p>“Can’t you stop it? Can’t you <em>fix</em> it?”</p>
<p>“Not enough juice. Hell, I can’t even keep one measly little angel asleep, much less fix this up. And why should I care, really?” it shrugged. “I was the only thing keeping those things out there from coming to this side and eating you people up for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but you have no respect! You think you can stroll in and out, disrespect my sleep, whenever you want! I just wanted to sleep, Castiel! Why couldn’t you just. <em>Let. Me. Sleep</em>?”</p>
<p>It stepped closer, until they were face to face. Cas could feel its hand – cold, colder than a dead man’s grip – wrapping around his throat. “Let me go. I can talk to God. We can fix this”, he pleaded.</p>
<p>“You know the saying, Castiel”, it said, tightening its grip. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you again for thinking I’d fall for it. Besides…” it cast him aside, pinning him down on the floor. “If you’re awake, it’s because someone woke you up. All I have to do is wait until they come looking for you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>HELL.</strong>
</p>
<p>Teleporting always made the stomach hurt, and the location they were heading into didn’t bring out good memories for either Dean, Sam <em>or</em> Eileen – still, they swallowed up the bad memories those long dark corridors had, focusing on the mission at hand.</p>
<p>They were not the only ones displeased with their presence here.</p>
<p>“You know this isn’t a vacation spot, right?” asked a demon, stepping out of the shadows of a corner. “You can’t keep waltzing in and out of here whenever you’re in the mood.”</p>
<p>It took a moment for Sam and Dean to process who they were seeing, and even longer to fully register it. “<em>Bela</em>?” Dean said, squinting.</p>
<p>“Hello, Dean”, she said, her eyes flashing black. “Wish I could say it’s nice seeing you.”</p>
<p>“You’re a <em>demon</em>?”</p>
<p>“What did you expect would happen to me once you let them drag me here?” she asked, coming closer.</p>
<p>“Who’s this?” Eileen asked Sam.</p>
<p>He shuddered. “She’s an… old friend.”</p>
<p>“Friend is not the word I’d use for someone you leave to die after they <em>beg</em> you for help, is it?” she asked, cocking her head towards him. “And then you come here, rescue souls, break into tombs, steal things, and never even <em>think</em> about helping me out. If it weren’t for Rowena…”</p>
<p>“She made you a demon?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“No, idiot. She’s reforming hell. Reviewing old demon contracts. She saw <em>why</em> I was sent to hell in the first place, but since she couldn’t exactly send me upstairs… she gave me a job. Beats being tortured, doesn’t it, Dean?”</p>
<p>He clenched his jaw tight, but didn’t answer. “We need to talk to her. Where is she?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Probably in a dungeon somewhere with that sleazy old man – what’s his name? Ketch, I guess.”</p>
<p>“Ketch’s in hell?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“Good”, Eileen replied.</p>
<p>“Can you take us to her?” Jack asked. He had mostly been observing the place – he had never been to hell before. It was not like he imagined. He figured there would’ve been a lot of more…extra-dimensional torture aspects, instead of some old caves.</p>
<p>Then again, Heaven was an office building. Chuck wasn’t the most creative writer out there, was he?</p>
<p>Bela took them to Rowena’s throne room – it wasn’t like she could say no to the Almighty, anyway – and while the Queen of Hell was more than eager to help them out, there was also very little that she could <em>actually</em> do.</p>
<p>“Of course I can give you the spell, darlings, it’s not even that complicated”, she said, lounging on her throne. “Just a little myrrh, little something or another – nothing that you don’t have on that old bunker of yours. The problem is, if Jack himself can’t open a rift, why do you think some magic spell can?”</p>
<p>“Because you are the most powerful witch in the world, Rowena, if someone can do it, it’s you”, Sam pleaded.</p>
<p>She almost blushed. “Oh, Samuel. Always with the flattery. But I’m afraid this time it’s beyond even my powers. Whatever is happening out there – it doesn’t want anyone from this side interfering.”</p>
<p>“So we can do nothing about it? We’re just wasting time?” Dean scolded, much to Rowena’s chagrin.</p>
<p>“No, Dean Winchester, that is not what I <em>said</em>. God, you’re always in such a hurry, aren’t you?!” she hassled, getting up from her seat. “Now, I heard through the grapevine that a while back, the Empty invaded Heaven, isn’t that right, lad?”</p>
<p>“Y-Yes”, Jack said, hesitant. “The Shadow was looking for me. That’s why Cas made the deal in the first place.”</p>
<p>“Exactly. Now, if I remember correctly, the Empty exists outside of reality. It can’t just come into this plane unprompted.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, so?” Dean asked, exchanging looks with Sam.</p>
<p>Rowena took a deep breathe. “That means it had to get to Heaven <em>somehow</em>. If Purgatory has a backdoor to Hell – and vice-versa – then that means…”</p>
<p>“Heaven must have one for the Empty as well”, Sam filled in.</p>
<p>“Good boy.”</p>
<p>“Great. So we have to find a hidden door in Heaven. That’s fantastic”, Dean groaned, massaging his forehead. “Let’s get going, then.”</p>
<p>“Could I have a moment with Samuel before you head off into the next part of your quest?” Rowena requested. “Alone?”</p>
<p>They hesitated – Eileen in particular – but Sam gave them the go-ahead. He was not one to trust Hell, but after everything, he trusted Rowena.</p>
<p>“I see you put what I’ve left you to good use”, she said, with a smirk, looking back at where Eileen had just been.</p>
<p>Sam scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, you could say that.”</p>
<p>“You know, I always figured you’d go for a redhead, but at least she is Irish”, she joked. “What else have you been using it for?”</p>
<p>“I – nothing, Rowena. I’m not exactly a witch.”</p>
<p>“And why not?”</p>
<p>He laughed. “I’m a <em>hunter</em>.”</p>
<p>“So? Hunter. College boy. Psych. Special Child. Boyking. Vessel. Men of Letters. Witch. Straight. Gay. Bi. Man. Woman. Those are all just <em>labels</em>, Samuel. They don’t mean anything to people like you and me”, she said, with a dismissive hand-wave. “I meant it when I said you are the closest thing of a seasoned witch I’ve seen in a while, and you could be good at it, too.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but Dean –”</p>
<p>“Dean has other things in his mind. <em>Feathery</em> things. I’m talking about you, dear”, she said, brushing her fingers against his chin. “Think of all the good you could do, Sam. Not having to worry about hunters dying because they have resurrecting hexbags made by you with them; protecting charms, locating spells, cloaking incantations… think of all the good you could do for the monsters as well.”</p>
<p>He frowned. “The monsters? The ones we <em>kill</em>?”</p>
<p>“Yes. Maybe you don’t have to kill all of them, all the time”, she rolled eyes. “I’ve only been queen for a short time, but I’ve seen a lot of tormented souls here, Sam, even before they came to Hell. Can you imagine what is like for those in a place like Purgatory?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but they’re – they’re <em>monsters</em>, Rowena.”</p>
<p>“And? Not all of them by choice. Not all of them willingly. Can you not think of any monsters you’ve encountered that needed help, rather than someone playing judge, jury and executioner? Someone who had a bad encounter, someone you and your brother or any other hunter couldn’t save in time?”</p>
<p>Of course he could. He thought about the boy they had had to kill just months before – Billy, the vampire boy. But there were others. Madison. Kate. Benny. Amy. Lenore. Sully. Garth and his family…</p>
<p>“You already have an in with Heaven and an in with Hell, Samuel. Why not build that last bridge? Wouldn’t it be better than just playing cop with your fake badge?” she asked, caressing his cheek.  “Go on, now, your brother is waiting.”</p>
<p>He stepped back, throwing her one last look before she returned to her throne. Queen of Hell… that was something he’d never get used to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>THE EMPTY.</strong>
</p>
<p>“You know, you could just go back to sleep”, the Shadow said, fiddling with its nails. It had conjured a chair for itself, using Cas as a footrest. “You don’t need to see what happens next.”</p>
<p>“You can only get out of here if they open a rift, and they won’t. You were right. They won’t come for me, they –”</p>
<p>“What was I, born yesterday? Be reasonable, Castiel.” It kicked him away, stretching its legs. “Even I can admit when I was wrong. You <em>do</em> have someone batting for you out there. Although… look around you. Is that really a good thing?”</p>
<p>Light from the cracks illuminated his surroundings, and all the bodies on the floor – his brothers and sisters, friends and enemies, all the people he had loved and lost over the years, some by his own hand.</p>
<p>“Think about it, feathers. How many are here because of <em>you</em>? You had <em>one</em> <em>job</em>. You had to rescue some guy and then go back in line, but then you… fell. And for what? <em>Some guy</em>. Let’s be real, you could do better”, it dismissed, with flicker of its hand. “But you fell, for love, and you took everyone down with you. Literally! Insane, isn’t it? Your kind existed for billions of years, but you get one little crush and in ten years, they are completely wiped out. The guy in the desert took, like, four times longer to get to the Promised Land.”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t… my fault”, Cas said, struggling to stand up.</p>
<p>“Ehh. You say tomato, I say potato.” It shrugged. “At the end of the day – do you really want to stay awake, thinking about all the misery you caused, when you could just spare us both and take good, long, forever nap?”</p>
<p>“What about the misery <em>you</em> want to cause?”</p>
<p>“That one is pretty inevitable. In fact, if you decide to be petulant and stay awake, I’ll make it worse for you. When they open that rift – and they will open it, sooner or later – I’ll gobble up their universe, brick by boring brick, until the last star dies out, and when it does, I’ll spit you out, so you have to spend the rest of eternity alone. Do you really want that to be your end?”</p>
<p>Cas crawled away, towards the closest body. He recognized him – Gabriel. Though he had died in a different universe, he still landed there anyway. Were all angels, all demons, across all universes bound to that place? How many different versions of him were there?</p>
<p>That was not a question worth answering.</p>
<p>“Why can’t you just put me to sleep?” he asked, forcing himself on his feet.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Just knock me out. Why can’t you do it?”</p>
<p>“It’s not how this works. You know it’s not how this works.”</p>
<p>“Right. And what would happen if I woke them all up?”</p>
<p>What? No. Don’t do that. Castiel. Castiel, stop that!”</p>
<p>But if there is one thing Cas very rarely did was listen – and before the Shadow could raise itself from its little chair, he had already awaken Gabriel, and moved on to the next. And the next. And the next. There was an ocean of people as far as the eye could see and beyond, and he had all the time in the world.</p>
<p>He missed many of them. Friends he could not save – like Benjamin, Joshua, Inias or Hannah; some, he didn’t know how well would take to seeing him again – like Samandriel, Anna, Akobel, Balthazar, Rachel and Uriel; a handful he wasn’t sure how he felt about waking, but did so nonetheless – like Hael, Gadreel, Metatron, Duma, Raphael and Michael. Billie, especially. Some he had never properly got to know – like Ambriel and Abner or the reaper Tessa. Even a few demon allies he bumped along the way – Crowley and Meg and Cain and Ruby, who was already half-awake, so he didn’t have much of a choice.</p>
<p>There was a handful he <em>did</em> choose to skip over; no reason to wake up Lucifer again, or Zachariah, or Bartholomew, or Efram or Ishim. He was certainly not going to wake up Belphagor. There were many other options to choose from.</p>
<p>Not that the Shadow was happy with any of them.</p>
<p>“Cut it out. Cut it out! Go back to sleep, right now! RIGHT NOW!” it shouted, to the growing crowd of confused angels (and adjacent).</p>
<p>“What… is this place?” Anna asked, looking around.</p>
<p>“This is the end.” Cas explained. “Of reality. Of everything.”</p>
<p>“Wait. Did the Apocalypse already happen?”</p>
<p>“Oh, honey, we’re well past that”, at her side, Billie laughed. “See, Castiel? This is what happens when you mess with the natural order of things.”</p>
<p>“It was <em>your</em> plan to turn my son into a <em>bomb</em>!”</p>
<p><em>Castiel has a son? </em>came the murmur from the back. A lot of disappointment among the ranks.</p>
<p><em>He and Lucifer had a cuckhold thing going on</em>, he heard Crowley say, but he chose to ignore that.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter”, he said, turning back to the Shadow. “You have to let us out now. If one angel awake was bad, imagine a legion of them. We’re never going to give you peace.”</p>
<p>“Are you serious? <em>You</em> think you can <em>threaten</em> me?” the Shadow laughed. It melted down onto the floor, as another crack spread around them, red light peering through the darkness. “You think this is a joke, Castiel?” it called, its voice coming from all sides. Before any of them could realize it, their feet were sinking down, shadows wrapping themselves around their ankles; the floor pulled them down the more they struggled, swallowing them up. Castiel fought against the dark tentacles wrapping around his body, to no avail. “Well, I’m about to be <em>hilarious</em>.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>HEAVEN.</strong>
</p>
<p>“This place is a mess and half”, Dean said, the moment his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the new corridor.</p>
<p>Not that there was much of it. The lights on Heaven kept flickering, giving a glimpse on the deteriorating walls of the celestial office building. There was broken furniture everywhere – well, not so much broken as much as it was coming undone, unraveling at the seams, like everything else.</p>
<p>“Cas said Heaven was in bad shape, but this –” Sam looked around. “I thought you were fixing it.”</p>
<p>“Well, yeah, me and Aunt Amara are trying, but there’s a lot of things we need to work on”, Jack explained.</p>
<p>The brothers shared a look. “I thought Chuck had guzzled Amara up”, Dean said.</p>
<p>“He did, but… she <em>did</em> say she wanted to get to know me, and she already spent so long locked up, I didn’t think it was fair to do that to her again, so… I let her out”, he shrugged. “She’s… hard at work.”</p>
<p>They moved on to – another – throne room, where Amara had taken residency. In her brother’s old chair, she looked right in place; on the other hand, the two people perched at her side, Naomi and Anael, were… not an encouraging sight.</p>
<p>“People always said the future is female”, Eileen joked, but nobody was in the mood for a laugh.</p>
<p>“Should I bother to ask what you’re doing here?” Amara asked.</p>
<p>“We’re looking for a way into the Empty”, Dean explained. “We know there’s one. It came through here last time it invaded, so –”</p>
<p>“And why would you want to do that for?” she insisted.</p>
<p>“We have – there is someone we need to –”</p>
<p>“You mean Castiel”, Naomi interrupted, almost spitefully. “If he is in the Empty, that means he is dead.”</p>
<p>“Since when does that mean anything in our line of business?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“That’s different. The Empty… nothing is meant to get out of it. Especially not more than once”, she folded her arms. “What is it about him, anyway? What is it about this one defective angel that makes you want to bend the laws of reality to him?”</p>
<p>“It’s because…” Dean hesitated. He felt the pressure in his chest; building, growing, expanding, suffocating him. He exhaled. “Because I love him. And I need him back. And you’re going to help me, because you owe it – to me, to him, to everyone.”</p>
<p>“We don’t owe you –” Anael started, but Amara raised her hand. She had a smile in the corner of her lips.</p>
<p>“I can see shame no longer cloaks your heart, Dean Winchester. Good. Unfortunately… there are billions of heavens to look through, and we don’t have the manpower to look through all of them. Especially if we don’t know what we’re looking for. I certainly can’t help you – I have to create more angels, keep the lights on here, keep the personal heavens from deteriorating more than they already…”</p>
<p>“Do you need my help, Aunt Amara?” Jack stepped up.</p>
<p>“I can handle it, I just need a little more focus”, she said, closing her eyes. Maybe all that yoga had actually served for something, after all.</p>
<p>“We’re not giving up”, Dean said, determined. “We’re already here. Even if we have to knock on every door…”</p>
<p>“Maybe we don’t have to.” Sam pointed out. “Remembered last time we tried to escape Heaven?”</p>
<p>“You tried to <em>escape</em> Heaven?” Eileen butted in.</p>
<p>“It’s complicated.”</p>
<p>“You guys had very strange lives”, Jack said.</p>
<p>Sam and Dean shared a look. They didn’t know the half of it.</p>
<p>“You mean Ash?” Dean asked. “But that was different.”</p>
<p>“Was it? We’re still trying to escape Heaven. It’s just… more complex now.”</p>
<p>“That’s putting it mildly.” He rolled eyes. “Last time we were inside. How are we going to find Ash now?”</p>
<p>“I can help with that”, Anael volunteered. “So you can’t say I didn’t help.”</p>
<p>She led them along the way through the many corridors of letter ‘A’s, down to the ‘As’, and then ‘Ash’s, until they landed on an unexpected hallway. “His name is Ash…ley Simpson?” Sam squinted.</p>
<p>“Oh, I am so not letting him live this down!” Dan laughed. “And he’s not even alive anymore.”</p>
<p>At the other side of the door, the heaven waiting for them was exactly as chaotic as they’d expect from someone like Ash – but also way more populated.</p>
<p>It was the Roadhouse again, as it had been the last time, and Ash was there again, passed out on a couch, but it was not a memory; there were other people, people who he’d definitely never met before while alive.</p>
<p>Bobby and Rufus were locked in a game of pool, while Ellen and another man – a gruff-looking fella, salt-and-pepper hair, that could look like he had just quit being sheriff in <em>Justified</em> – were tending to the bar. Jo and Charlie, the original Charlie, were swapping notes in a corner, lost in thought, while Mary Winchester and Kevin Tran sat at the counter, each with a beer in hand.</p>
<p>Neither brother was sure what they had expected to see, but it was certainly not this.</p>
<p>“How is Kevin here?” Sam asked, before they could even step inside. “I thought he was a ghost.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I took care of that”, Jack smiled.</p>
<p>“You… took care of it? How?”</p>
<p>“I put all the souls where they are supposed to be. Aunt Amara said I should’ve probably waited until we were finished reforming, but I figured…”</p>
<p>“All souls? You mean, all ghosts on Earth?” Eileen asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah. There were so many of them, too. Just… trapped there, wandering.”</p>
<p>“So there are no more ghosts downstairs?” Sam frowned. “No more vengeful spirits? Unfinished business – nothing?”</p>
<p>“Not really, I don’t think so”, the boy scratched his chin. “And the reapers can’t let them stick around anymore, either. That’s the new order of business. It’s not good for anyone, right?”</p>
<p>The three of them shared an uncertain look. “That… certainly makes things easier for us”, Dean said, stepping through.</p>
<p>There was silence once the four came through. Anael stayed back, closing the door behind them. “Oh, shit. Did you guys already die again?” Kevin asked.</p>
<p>“Wh – no. We… it’s not – what is <em>happening</em> here?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“Just another Thrusfriwedsday”, he shrugged. “Time means nothing here anyway.”</p>
<p>Mary rushed over, wrapping her arms around her kids; “it’s good to see you boys again”, she whispered, kissing them both on the cheek. Bobby followed close by, minus the kissing.</p>
<p>“How are you here? I thought they had you in lock up”, Dean asked, holding on to him.</p>
<p>“They let me out on good behavior”, Bobby joked. “It wasn’t like they had enough juice to keep the lights on over there on my prison sell, either.”</p>
<p>“And you all just decided to get together here? You all have a shared heaven?”</p>
<p>“This is more of a hideout than anything”, he scratched the back of his neck.</p>
<p>“It’s very easy to find”, Sam pointed out, gesturing towards where the door had just been.</p>
<p>“It’s more about the spirit of the thing, kid”, he huffed. “The way this place was built – it’s not paradise, it’s a prison. We reliving the same memory, over and over forever… it’s not right.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s one of the things Aunt Amara wants to fix up. She keeps saying how Chuck was not a very creative writer”, Jack grimaced.</p>
<p>“Wait, is this your kid Mary was talking about?” Bobby asked, pulling Jack into a hug as well.</p>
<p>“Without the angels, the place isn’t as strong as it used to be”, Mary explained. “The walls… they were thinning out. Your friend there, Ash, he started going through heavens, pulling people along. He found Ellen and Jo and Bill, and they found Bobby, and he found Rufus and me, and I found Charlie and Kevin… Mostly by accident. I thought they were the other ones. From the other universe.”</p>
<p>“What about – what about dad? I thought you were in a heaven together”, Sam asked.</p>
<p>“Why would you think that?”</p>
<p>“The angels told us… when Jack tried to bring you back, that you were happy. That you were in a shared heaven with dad.”</p>
<p>“I was in a memory with your father, yeah, but… I never found him here. After everything, I’m not really sure he <em>is</em> here. I guess they just didn’t want you to bring me back.”</p>
<p>She turned to look at Jack, who’d shielded himself behind Bobby. “Hi Jack.”</p>
<p>“Hi, Mrs. Winchester”, the boy said, looking at his feet. Tears were already swelling up the corner of his eyes. “I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>“It’s okay. You made a mistake. It happens.”</p>
<p>“I killed you.”</p>
<p>“That just proves you’re a real Winchester”, she took his face in her hands, squishing his cheeks gently. “Killing each other… it happens to the best of us. Look around.”</p>
<p>The rest of the family had come closer. Ellen and Jo came in for a hug; Rufus was less warm and fuzzy. He settled for a firm handshake instead. “Good to see you boys are still getting into trouble”, he scoffed.</p>
<p>“Aren’t we always?” Sam smiled.</p>
<p>Dean stepped to the side with Jo. He wasn’t sure how he should navigate it. “Hey. Last time I saw you, you were an angry spirit”, he cleaned his throat.</p>
<p>“Clearly, I got better”, she said, waving her arms. “I missed you guys.”</p>
<p>“Missed you too, kid. All of you. Is that your <em>dad</em>?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. He looks good in a cowboy hat, huh?”</p>
<p>Dean couldn’t help but take a peek. You know, if it wasn’t for Cas… “He sure does.”</p>
<p>“Are you two John’s boys? Look at you! His spitting image!” Bill said, laying a heavy hand on Sam’s shoulder.</p>
<p>“At least you guys found each other here”, Sam said, with a stiff smile.</p>
<p>“We found a lot of people”, Ellen corrected. “We’re not the only ones realizing this heaven situation isn’t ideal. People are grouping up. The thinner the walls are, the more people pass through.”</p>
<p>“I even found a boy that says I am his father”, Bobby laughed. Sam ground his teeth. That was gonna be a whole other conversation. “Haven’t found Karen, yet, though. And Rufus is still looking for his daughter, Aretha.”</p>
<p>“I’m still not sure if this isn’t some kind of Djinn illusion”, Rufus complained. “The Torah doesn’t say anything about heaven, and why would my heaven have Bobby Singer on it?”</p>
<p>“Oh shut it, you love me.”</p>
<p>“So you guys are mapping out heavens?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“No, <em>we</em> are”, Charlie corrected, stepping forward. She kicked Ash’s couch on the way. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”</p>
<p>“Huh? What? No, I didn’t do it!” Ash shouted, jumping on his feet. He squinted at the newcomers with mild surprise. “Oh, it’s you guys. Did you die again?”</p>
<p>“No, it’s not – never mind”, Dean sighed, turning to Charlie. He felt a nod growing on his throat. “Charlie. Hi. I’m –”</p>
<p>“Oh, please, don’t tell me you’re gonna start crying on me”, she rolled eyes. “Yes, I died. Brutally. Not so much fridged as bath-tubbed. At least you took care of those sons of bitches for me, didn’t you?”</p>
<p>“You…could say that. Are you – have you found a way to track down people here?”</p>
<p>“Ash and I have been trying. This place doesn’t exactly have technology.”</p>
<p>“Doesn’t matter. At least it means we came to the right place. We’re looking for something – a doorway, maybe, or a crack. A way out of Heaven, and into the Empty.”</p>
<p>“The Empty? What’s that?” Jo asked.</p>
<p>“It’s a place where angels go when they die”, Kevin said, with a swing of his beer. He had made no mention of leaving his stool. “It was in one of the tablets.”</p>
<p>“Why are you trying to go there?” Mary asked. “Did… Where is Cas?”</p>
<p>“He’s there”, Jack explained. “We’re getting him back.”</p>
<p>“We’re gonna need a little more to go than just that. What else are we supposed to be looking for?” Bobby asked.</p>
<p>“We don’t actually…have any clues”, Sam stammered. “Maybe it’s like a negative zone? Or… or it has a bad energy or something?”</p>
<p>“Like the Anomaly!” Ash said. He had awakened himself by snatching away Kevin’s beer.</p>
<p>“The what now?” Dean squinted.</p>
<p>“The Anomaly!”</p>
<p>“Is that what we are calling it?” Jo asked Charlie, in a whisper.</p>
<p>“No, it’s just him”, she answered.</p>
<p>“What is that exactly?” Dean insisted.</p>
<p>“It’s an empty heaven”, Ash said, making a beeline to the pool table. He reached underneath it and pressed a button; the surface flipped, revealing a rudimentary map – mostly made out of toy soldiers, scraps and markers. Like some kid’s attempt at a D&amp;D battle map. “Which, it should go without saying, should <em>not</em> happen here. We figured it was probably from someone who was resurrected, except, according to our adorable redhead over there, the guy it belongs to has never actually died, so that doesn’t seem to be the case.”</p>
<p>“And who’s the guy?” Sam asked.</p>
<p>“Some squirrely fella called Charles Shurley.”</p>
<p>He shot Dean a disgusted look. “God had a personal heaven? You think that’s where he had been hiding all this time?”</p>
<p>“The angels didn’t know he was playing Chuck’s part, so…”</p>
<p>“Wait, hold on. Pause. God. As in, Capital G, God? The big guy?” Bill interrupted. “He’s around?”</p>
<p>“Not anymore”, Dean shrugged.</p>
<p>“What do you mean, not anymore? What happened?”</p>
<p>“Long story.”</p>
<p>“Christ Almighty, did you two <em>kill God</em>?” Ellen asked, and she couldn’t decide if she was outraged or impressed.</p>
<p>“He’s not dead, he’s just powerless”, Jack clarified. “I’m technically him, now, actually. It’s really is a long story.”</p>
<p>“I think I need a drink”, Ellen said, massaging her forehead.</p>
<p>“Don’t we all”, Dean sighed. “Some other time – where is this heaven located? Is there a quick route?”</p>
<p>“Last time, it was around here”, Ash said, pointing to an area full of green pins. “Near where we found Charlie. We could take this route here, skip through most of the B’s, but then –”</p>
<p>“I can sense it”, Jack said, approaching the table. “I think – I think can get us there.”</p>
<p>He hovered his hand over the mass of pins, closing his eyes for a second. The energy – he could feel it, like a faint memory he couldn’t quite fully visualize. But he knew where it was. He knew how to get there.</p>
<p>In a second, the room around them blipped in and out of existence, and in the next, the group had left the Roadhouse. They were standing in a small, cozy study: there was a red armchair next to a tall lamp by a window, whose view kept changing outside. There were bookshelves covering each wall, but all the books looked the same – nameless, blank, only there to fill space. Most, anyway; there was also a collection of <em>Supernatural</em> books, lined up row after row, with some editions scattered over the carpet. At the corner of the room, there was a desk, with an old-timey typewriter, a half-written page still stuck to it.</p>
<p>Chuck’s little corner of nowhere.</p>
<p>“You’d think God would have a better sense of style”, Bill mentioned, scratching his beard.</p>
<p>“Not every wall needs a deer head mounted to it, Billy”, Mary said, rolling eyes.</p>
<p>“Oh, there <em>were</em> more <em>Supernatural</em> books!” Charlie squealed. “You guys should really read them, you were all there! You should especially read The Man Who Would Be King. It’s told through Cas’ point of view. It’s <em>so good</em>. When he talks about watching Dean rake leaves while he’s with Lisa – ugh, so romantic!”</p>
<p>“Cas did what now?” Dean frowned.</p>
<p>“Never mind that. Wait, hold on, if he wrote more books, does that mean that<em> I</em> appeared on them? <em>Oh my Gosh</em>. Am I in the Leviathan arc?!”</p>
<p>“You know”, Ellen whispered to Rufus. “When I said that I wanted Jo to have more friends her own age, I didn’t mean like this.”</p>
<p>“It looks like he was still writing”, Kevin said, snatching the last unfinished page from the typewriter. He scanned the paper, his face growing somber at each line. “Something about… clown vampires? Vampire mimes? This guy’s writing was really bad.”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, he <em>loved</em> adverbs”, Charlie laughed, scavenging through the books on the shelves. “And killing women. His sex scenes were not that good, either.”</p>
<p>“It’s better in real life”, Eileen said. In the confusion, she didn’t manage to understand what most people were saying, but she had at least caught that – much to Sam’s utter embarrassment.</p>
<p>“Can we focus on the task at hand, please, instead of talking about all the women who died after sleeping with Sam?” Dean begged, rubbing his eyes.</p>
<p>“Or the guys, when he was soulless”, Charlie added.</p>
<p>Eileen raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“Maybe I’ll just stay in the Empty when this is all over”, Sam said, and hid his face in his hands.</p>
<p>“Oh, no, we are definitely going to talk about this when we get home”, Dean said, with a smirk.</p>
<p>Mary picked a couple of the books herself. She wasn’t sure if she was <em>that</em> curious about the life her boys had led.</p>
<p>“What exactly are we supposed to be looking for here?” Rufus asked, pushing a couple of books off the shelf. “There’s no doors here.”</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s the window”, Bill suggested.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t open, either.”</p>
<p>“Maybe we have to pull down one of the books to open a secret passage”, Kevin suggested. “Like an Indiana Jones movie.”</p>
<p>“Or – or you have to click specific keys on the typewriter to open it!” Charlie chipped in.</p>
<p>“Or maybe, you idiots, you can just look up”, Bobby suggested.</p>
<p>Above them, on the ceiling, there was a crack. A gateway. It was not golden like the others had been before; it was pitch black, and if they listened closely enough, they could hear the distance sound of humming coming through.</p>
<p>Dean reached up, tentatively, and into the passage.</p>
<p>And then he was gone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>THE EMPTY.</strong>
</p>
<p>He was the first to fall through. The others came, one by one, with Sam being the last – he had to give a boost to some of them so they could reach the ceiling, which for him was the least humiliating thing that had happened that entire afternoon (but certainly not for Rufus).</p>
<p>The Empty was far from what Dean had envisioned from Cas’ and Jack’s descriptions: it looked more like a place of torment than hell, with the cracks widening and the people – many of whom he recognized, for better or worse – slowly sinking into black quicksand. Some were up to their knees, or their hips, or their elbows, or even their chests. Many tried to grab upwards, towards something that wasn’t there, pleading for help.</p>
<p>That was the others’ department. Dean only had one in mind.</p>
<p>Cas was down to his neck, the shadows crawly up his face. He had closed his eyes, and briefly accepted his fate – until he felt a warm, familiar pair of hands grip him tight and raise him out of the darkness.</p>
<p>Dean pulled him out, cradling him close to his chest. “Hi, buddy.”</p>
<p>“Dean, you – you shouldn’t be here.”</p>
<p>“Of course I should! I’m not leaving you again, Cas. Not now, not ever! Cas, I–”</p>
<p>“Aw, that’s romantic”, the Shadow interrupted, rising from the ground. It had, once again, tried to take on Cas’ form, to unfortunate results. “Told you he was gonna come for you! And now that he cleared the doorway to the other side, I can pass through and eat my way through the buffet. And I’m starting with you two lovebirds.”</p>
<p>It reached down and grabbed them by the necks, the shadows spreading through their bodies as it had done once before. Struggling against it was pointless.</p>
<p>“STOP!” Jack shouted. A blast from his hand released the grip it had on them, and they fell to the floor again. “Is this – is this my fault? Did I do this?”</p>
<p>“<em>Ding-ding-ding</em>! Ten points to the <em>Nephewlim</em>!” the Shadow spat out, clapping its hands. “You came here, and you blew all over me – and not even in the fun way! And you made this place loud and unbearable! I can hear them – the Other Ones – they are coming, and they are coming fast! But I’m going to eat you up, and I’m going to stop all of this, and then I’m going back to sleep again.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to do that! Maybe I can help! I have God’s powers, I can – I can fix this.”</p>
<p>The Shadow tilted its head, raising an eyebrow from Castiel’s side of its face. “You <em>do</em> have God’s powers. I can sense it all over you. Yeah, I think we can make something work.”</p>
<p>“Then I’ll give it to you. All of Chuck’s powers, I’ll give them, and you fix it.”</p>
<p>“Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, boy. You have to give me more than that. You’re gonna have to give me <em>everything</em>, kid. Every ounce of power you have. I’m gonna suck it dry.”</p>
<p>Jack paused. His hands were shaking. “Okay. Okay, let’s do it.”</p>
<p>“No! Jack, don’t!” Cas forced himself up, putting his body between the boy and the Shadow. “You can’t do this.”</p>
<p>“I have to.”</p>
<p>“No! We’ll work something out. We’ll find another way!”</p>
<p>“There’s no time. This is it. This is what I have to do.”</p>
<p>“Please –”</p>
<p>“It’s okay, father”, the boy said, taking Cas’ hands on his own. The tears were swelling on his eyes. “Tell me that it’s okay.”</p>
<p>Castiel swallowed hard. It wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Not again. Not again. Please. Please. Not again. “It’s okay”, he said, wiping the tear from Jack’s cheek. “It’s okay.”</p>
<p>He stepped aside, letting the Shadow approach. “Yay, let’s have some fun!” it said, grasping both sides of Jack’s face. As it sunk its fingers in, they tilted their heads back in sync and screamed; bolts of bright white light exploded out of their eyes and mouths, spreading forward and around them, until they consumed all of their surroundings.</p>
<p>It was a lifetime in a minute, and then it was done.</p>
<p>When the light dissipated and the humming sound ceased, angels and humans (and the occasional reaper and demon, lest we forget) found the environment had changed – the cracks had healed, yes, but the darkness of the Empty had dissipated along with it, and it was now a white-hot room, no longer pulling them down. The angels and demons and reapers still asleep had disappeared.</p>
<p>“W-O-W! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” The Shadow said, running its hands overs its head and down its neck. It had abandoned Cas’ likeness and taken Jack’s instead, though its eyes were apparently stuck on their golden form.</p>
<p>Of Jack, there was a bundle of clothes left on the floor.</p>
<p>And then a head popped out of it.</p>
<p>Followed by a body, and all of the respective libs.</p>
<p>It was a boy, no older than three – it was <em>the</em> boy. As he ought to have been.</p>
<p>“Daddy!” he called out, sticking his hands towards Cas.</p>
<p>Castiel picked him up, wrapped on the clothes of his former self, though he didn’t understand quite what had happened. “Why is he – why is he like this?”</p>
<p>“He’s a little boy, isn’t he?” the Shadow asked, mouth twitched in a grimace. “Without his archangel powers to age him up, without the need of a grace to keep him alive – he’s just a little boy. Yours, by the looks of it.”</p>
<p>“Ours”, Dean corrected, wrapping an arm around Cas’ shoulder. He didn’t understand what was going on – he didn’t have the faintest clue of what could possibly be going on between these three – but at least that much he knew.</p>
<p>“Well, reality is safe. You can get out now, right?” the Shadow asked, making a gesture for them to leave with its hands.</p>
<p>“You’re just… gonna let us leave?” Cas asked.</p>
<p>It rolled eyes. “Are you going back to sleep, Castiel?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“Are your brothers and sisters, who for some reason listen to you, going back to sleep?”</p>
<p>“Probably not.”</p>
<p>“Then I don’t want you here any more than you want to stay. Go, before the gateway closes and I do end up eating you all.”</p>
<p>There was no need for them to be told twice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>HEAVEN.</strong>
</p>
<p>A funny thing happened when a legion of angels, including three archangels, stepped through a passage into Heaven.</p>
<p>It was like a shockwave, spreading out across the far corners of the celestial plane; a guff of hope that reenergized all those it came in contact with. The lights turned back on, and the walls rebuilt themselves. The place was, once again, whole.</p>
<p>But that wasn’t even the most interesting part.</p>
<p>For those angels, up until that point, they had only inhabited vessels – a necessity rather than a want. There had always been, whether they liked or not, some disconnect between their own selves and the bodies they occupied, in the same way a puppet and a hand are not one and the same.</p>
<p>Being reborn, however, meant having a body of their own – for many, it was a sudden, shocking experience of feeling their own flesh, of understanding the sensation of having fingers.</p>
<p>Alien. Absurd. Thrilling. Exhilarating. New.</p>
<p>The sudden commotion attracted Amara’s attention. She opened a passage from Chuck’s study room to the throne, as soon as the first of them began to pass through, lest they ended on a pile up. Seeing who was seated on God’s throne was a shock to many – especially the archangels, even more so Raphael, who’d been out of the loop for a while, and barely understood what was going on; but he remember his aunt, and what he and his brothers had to do to her, and that was enough to go on.</p>
<p>They assumed position, but Amara raised her hands in a gesture of peace. “No need for the blades, boys. A lot of things have changed since you were gone”, she said, with a smile. “We’re going to fix things up here. No more apocalypses, no more human bloodline meddling. Out with the old. The whole thing.”</p>
<p>“Aren’t you the Darkness?” Gadreel asked.</p>
<p>“What happened to dad?” Gabriel added.</p>
<p>“Didn’t you kill me? Like, personally?” Ambriel pointed out.</p>
<p>“Yes, yes, you have a lot of questions, and we will soon have time to answer them all. For now, why don’t you follow Naomi – she’s gonna put you all up to date on all that is, all that was, and all that it will be.”</p>
<p>Naomi stepped to the side, opening a door for them. The angels looked around, reluctantly; did they have any other option? One by one, they went ahead.</p>
<p>Michael held back. He had been the last to arrive at the Empty, and for him the situation was a little more complex. “Is Adam alive?” he asked Sam.</p>
<p>“Yes. Yeah, I – he messaged me earlier. Right after Jack brought everyone back.”</p>
<p>“He has his own body back”, Michael said, flexing his hand in front of his face.</p>
<p>“I think he’d still like to see you anyway”, Sam assured. “He was more than just your vessel.”</p>
<p>“I have his face, now. Would that not be strange?”</p>
<p>“What part of our lives is normal?”</p>
<p>Michael didn’t say anything, but the corner of his lips twitched in what could almost have been a smile. “Thank you.”</p>
<p>He went along with his siblings, but not before casting one last look at his aunt. There was a sense of… perhaps understanding between them. Not forgiveness, certainly not tenderness, but they knew they could count on one another moving forward, for the betterment of Heaven.</p>
<p>Once the angels were gone, the demons saw fit to take their cue – but not fast enough.</p>
<p>“Hello, Uncle Crowley. Good to see you back at the land of the living”, Amara said, before they could make their exit, stage left.</p>
<p>“Amara”, he said, with a forced smile. “It’s good to be back.”</p>
<p>“I should warn you, though, a lot of things have changed since you… departed. For started, your mother is now the queen of Hell.”</p>
<p>“Oh, bollocks.”</p>
<p>“He has a <em>mother</em>?” Ruby asked Meg, over his shoulder.</p>
<p>“What other basement do you think he crawled out of?” she snickered.</p>
<p>“You should <em>know</em>”, Amara cleared her throat. “That she is doing a fairly good job, keeping Hell in line – so you better fall in line as well. Understood?”</p>
<p>They didn’t have time to answer, before she snapped them away home. All of them, except… “Cain”, she called out, as he looked around in confusion. “There’s someone who’d like to talk to you, before you… head back. He’s been wanting to talk to you for a while now. Couple thousand years, if I’m hearing it right.”</p>
<p>“No, I –” he hesitated. “I can’t see him.”</p>
<p>“Hey buddy, this is a one-time only deal, let’s make the most of it”, she gesture to Anael. “Take him to Abel. And Colette, if she’s on the way. It’s Colette, right? I’m not sure your mother would be particularly thrilled to see you, all things considered, but…”</p>
<p>“Just the two of them is enough”, he said. He rubbed the palms of his hands against his pants, following Anael down the corridor.</p>
<p>That left the handful of reapers awakened by Castiel, led by Tessa and Billie. The two had crossover back into the land of the living – dead but also not, thus prime candidates for the role of Death after the demise of the last one; though which one of them had stepped first was unclear, as both donned a version of the Ring on their finger.</p>
<p>“So which one of us gets the job?” Tessa asked.</p>
<p>“Seems to me like both of you did”, Amara said, leaning back.</p>
<p>“But that’s not how this <em>works</em>”, Billie protested.</p>
<p>“Apparently it <em>is</em>”, she corrected, pointedly. “In my personal opinion, everything in the universe needs balance, and this job was clearly not one meant to be done alone. This way, things are always… even. Unless of course either of you have a problem with that.”</p>
<p>Billie looked to her right, to Tessa, who’d extended a hand to her. She paused for a moment, hesitant; weighing in her options, and the possibilities. She knew what the ring meant – what it represented – what it demanded. What it could do to someone. It was not a gift, it was a burden.</p>
<p>Maybe she did not have to carry it alone.</p>
<p>“Fine with me”, she said, taking Tessa’s hands. With that, they and the other reapers were gone.</p>
<p>That left only the humans behind. Amara even got out of her chair for that.</p>
<p>“Nice to see the mission was successful”, she said, approaching the bunch. “Thank you for bringing back the angels. I was supposed to create more, but I was still trying to figure out how to do that without eating their souls in the process…” her eyes fell on the boy on Castiel’s lap, who had somehow managed to fall asleep despite all the ruckus. “And I’m sorry about Jack. I wish… I wish there had been another way.”</p>
<p>“Is he going to be okay? Without his grace?” Cas asked.</p>
<p>“Hard to say. But to me, he looks… human. Maybe it will regenerate over the years, maybe it won’t. If anything happens, we’ll help. Now…” she smacked her lips. “I think it’s time for you to head home.”</p>
<p>“What about them?” Dean asked, towards the rest of the gang. They had stepped back, unsure whether or not they should revere the figure before them – or, in Ash (and Charlie)’s case, if they should hit on her.</p>
<p>“They’ll go back to their own heavens, for the time being, while we do some reforms around. With more angels, things will be easier. I already have some plans – Uncle Crowley used to watch this show with me, about these four people torturing each other in some sort of hell, and I think he was looking for inspiration, but I didn’t get around to finishing it, but then, last year, with Chuck gone, actually sat down and –”</p>
<p>“No, I mean”, he cleaned his throat. “I mean, can they come with us?”</p>
<p>She scoffed. “Dean, are you serious? There’s like ten people there.”</p>
<p>“So?”</p>
<p>“<em>So</em>? You’re talking about bringing back an entire circus troupe.”</p>
<p>“But you’re the Goddess, you have the power, you <em>can</em> do it.”</p>
<p>“As much as I like how that sounds, these people –”</p>
<p>“Only died because of your brother’s bad writing”, he filled in, quickly. “Don’t you think they deserve a second chance, now, without the burden of Chuck’s decisions controlling them? Don’t you think <em>Jack</em> would want that?”</p>
<p>She grimaced. “Oh, that is a <em>low blow</em>, Dean Winchester, even for you. The kid’s not even dead!”</p>
<p>“Amara…”</p>
<p>“Ugh, fine, fine”, she gave in, pressing her thumbs against her temples. “But I swear to… me, I guess, if I see any of you here in the next thirty years, I <em>am</em> sending you to Hell myself!”</p>
<p>And with a snap of her fingers, they too were gone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>LA JOLLA, SAN DIEGO;</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>A FEW MONTHS LATER.</strong>
</p>
<p>“Alright, give me the scoop”, Dean said, the phone perched on his ear, while plucking the cushions out of the couch and sticking his hand between the crevices. “What’s going on over there?”</p>
<p>On the other end of the line, Sam chuckled. “Nothing, really. Everything’s been pretty calm, all things considered.”</p>
<p>“Yeah? No apocalypses coming our way?”</p>
<p>“Not any time soon, it seems.”</p>
<p>“What about our recently un-departed?”</p>
<p>“They are… still adapting, I guess. Each at their own pace. Oh, yeah, Kevin left two days ago. He’s gonna stay with Jody and the girls while we try to find out where Linda has been hiding.”</p>
<p>“His idea or Jody’s?” Dean asked, while crouching between the coffee table and the armchair, his knees complaining all the way down.</p>
<p>“Apparently it just… came up during the after-party, all on its own.”</p>
<p>“Right. Nothing to do with him and Alex chatting up all night?”</p>
<p>Sam laughed. “Jody thinks he and the girls can be a good influence on each other.”</p>
<p>On one hand, Dean agreed; it would be good for Claire and the girls to have another person they could talk to about their experiences, and Kevin deserved the chance to live a normal life of a young adult. On the other hand… “How long do you think it will take before they burn down her kitchen?”</p>
<p>“Donna’s betting it in a week, but I believe they are mature enough, so I’m giving it two.”</p>
<p>“So much faith”, he laughed, throwing aside a chewed rattle. “How about the others? How’s everyone else doing?”</p>
<p>“Charlie and Bobby are still coping with having doppelgängers, and that is going… well. She’s still around, the two Charlies have been updating Ash on new tech. They’ve been trying to explain Windows 10 to him.”</p>
<p>“Oh. Good luck with that.”</p>
<p>“It’s… it’s not going well. Bobby’s bunking with Rufus – they drop by every other day. The Harvelles are reopening the Roadhouse. Ellen promised she’s gonna include some non-alcoholic options, if you ever want to drop by.”</p>
<p>“Ugh, don’t remind me. Being sober is the worst.”</p>
<p>“Sure, but we also don’t have Chuck to keep your liver from failing, so…”</p>
<p>“One day at a time, I know”, he said, picking up a stuffed giraffe from the floor on the way upstairs. “How’s mom?”</p>
<p>“Busy. She and Eileen are all about the wedding preparations. You’re still coming, right?”</p>
<p>“Of course! St. Paddy’s bash. Should we wear only green? I can grow out a beard and go dressed as a leprechaun.”</p>
<p>“I <em>will</em> kill you, Dean.”</p>
<p>“You can try”, Dean teased, dropping all the stuffed animals he’d picked along the way over the bed. “How are you, by the way? How’s your new enterprise going?”</p>
<p>Sam sighed. He knew the question was coming. “It’s actually going great. We’ve been helping a lot of people.”</p>
<p>“<em>Monsters</em>, you mean.”</p>
<p>“Monsters <em>too</em>”, he corrected. “We’ve been relocating people, providing food supplies, helping during the full moon… we started out on Kansas City, cleaning up the mess Michael left, but Garth’s been getting in contact with some people he knows, and I got in touch with Mia, that grief counselor we met… We’re trying to figure out ways we can help each other thrive, even studying the possibility of using vampirism or lycanthropy as a way of curing disease, providing the person takes the cure right after…”</p>
<p>“In other words, helping people <em>and</em> helping things – the new family business.”</p>
<p>“I know you don’t approve, but –”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter if I approve or not, Sam”, Dean interrupted. While ravaging through the drawers in the nightstand, he found several familial trinkets – a postcard from Adam and Michael, who’d taken a sabbatical from Heaven and left with his former vessel to explore the world, both so that they could get to know it better and to adjust to his new age they had been brought back into (Adam complained a lot about people thinking they were twins; Michael had gone into perhaps too vivid details all the places he’d been inside Adam now that he didn’t need to <em>be</em> inside Adam); a matching set of necklaces shaped like coins with the Song of Solomon 7:10 inscribed on it in Hebrew, that Aaron had given them as a wedding gift (they didn’t wear it because Dean thought it was tacky); and several pictures of the after-party, with all his family – all the people that he loved – together, in various stages of inebriation.</p>
<p>He could still remember, clear as day. Sam’s incredibly long speech, which had only made him cry three times. Dean suggesting that his last drink be shared with Claire, as her first one, which she laughed incredibly uncomfortably. Karaoke was nice; seeing Crowley and Hannah wrestling for the improvised bouquet… not so much.</p>
<p>It all felt distant. Like a different life altogether. “I’m retired, brother. I have a beautiful house in California. I have my toes in the sand. I have my fruity drinks with as many umbrellas as I want. I have my kid. I have my ball and chain. The auto-shop is coming along nicely…this stuff, over there, it’s not my life anymore. It’s yours. You’re the Big Boss Man, now. It’s your legacy. And if you think what you’re doing is helping, if you think what you’re doing is making things better…”</p>
<p>“It is, it really is.”</p>
<p>“…then I’m proud of you, Sammy. And I know you’re going to do great.”</p>
<p>Dean didn’t need to be there to know his brother was all choked up. “Thank you.”</p>
<p>“I love you, bitch.”</p>
<p>“I love you, too, jerk.”</p>
<p>“Oh, here it is”, he pulled the pillows up. He used to hide guns and knives under there, and now he was finding tiny plastic pink beach rakes. The kid wanted what the kid wanted. “I gotta go, man. Same time next week?”</p>
<p>“Sure thing.”</p>
<p>Sam hanged up first, while Dean held back for a moment, staring out of the window of the bedroom and into the beach just outside his door. Cas was outside, sitting on the sand, his purple linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a straw hat barely hanging on his head as he tried to build a castle with Jackie.</p>
<p>Dean reached out around his neck, feeling the weeding present he’d gotten. Sure they had the rings, but the vial hanging at the end of the silver chain, containing Cas’ grace… that meant much more to him. With the angels back, his powers had gone back to normal, but still, he’d chosen to become human – for Dean, with Dean, in sickness and health; in life and death and beyond.</p>
<p>He hurried back downstairs, with the plastic rake at hand, to rejoin his face. The sun was setting in the sky, but they could stay a while longer and watch the stars. There was no hurry to go anywhere.</p>
<p>The new chapter of their lives was just starting out, and now they were the ones who’d get to write it… together.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know, I know, Supernatural is supposed to be a horror show. People die. Bad things happen. But in the words of a very wise Doctor: just this once, Reader, everybody lives.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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